LAFAYETTE, Ind. — From the porch of his northend home, Casey Diaz has watched neighbors come and go.

"I've lived here for six years," Diaz said Thursday outside his residence, just across the street from the scene of a drug bust last week. "I've seen a lot of change in this neighborhood as far as various people selling drugs and other street crime here."

Diaz's neighborhood isn't alone. This year, Lafayette Police Department's street crimes unit has raided several homes across the city, jailing more than a dozen people and netting several pounds of spice, methamphetamine and cocaine.

At the core of those investigations are tips and information from the community, which direct the six-member team independent from patrol districts and dispatchers.

"We don’t respond to calls for service," said Sgt. Adam Mellady, who heads the street crimes unit. "We actually generate our own cases, our own calls based on investigations that we begin, and those investigations nine times out of 10 begin with community tips."

So far this year, the unit has served 23 search warrants — most of which were drug-related, Mellady said — far outpacing last year's 10 searches.

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In August, the street crimes unit arrested Jahmal Moore, a suspected spice dealer, for the second time in as many months after he bonded out of Tippecanoe County Jail on June drug charges.

Officers uncovered more than eight pounds of spice and $824 in cash during two searches inside Moore's home, according to LPD.

"We talk to each other about what's going on and what we see," Diaz said of himself and his neighbors. "This is my neighborhood; this is my corner where I live; this is my house."

Jahmal Moore(Photo: Provided)

Authorities have said that many victims of break-ins, burglaries, thefts and other crimes can blame the prevalence of addiction, which can indirectly influence further illegal activity.

Spending most of his life on Lafayette's north end, Diaz said he's seen the effects first hand of drug abuse and related crime.

"I don't want people trashing my place, I don’t want them breaking in my cars, and that's what happens," Diaz said. "It's not the drug dealer that breaks in my car, it’s the people that come and go."

Mellady said communication between neighbors and the police is crucial as Lafayette continues to battle a drug epidemic fueled by hard drugs.

"They're living in that environment, and we don't think that’s fair," he said.

Lt. Scott Galloway, who heads LPD's community outreach and crime prevention unit, said the agency monitors its anonymous tip line and social media for residents with behind-scenes-information, relaying it to the street crimes unit when appropriate.

"The police never solve any crimes without the public's help," Galloway said. "Any time we solve a crime, there's always somebody behind the scenes giving us a tip, giving us information or calling it in."